Week 33: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (and happy bday mom! love ya!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Man, can you guys believe that it’s already January of two thousand freaking fifteen???!!! I’m dying bc the time is just flying by. I remember in May when I left thinking that 2015 is going to take FOREVER to get here and look at where we are now, IN JANUARY!

Anyways, this week was super slow with the work. We actually had a really good number on the lessons we taught, but felt like there wasn’t really any progress. We worked normal hours Christmas Eve and Christmas day in case you all were wondering. It was a little weird, and for me, those days definitely didn’t feel like Christmas to me. So that’s why I’m not really missing home all that much right now. But I am missing the snow!!

It’s started to get hot again here. Yeah, I asked around and everyone says that the cold weather is done. Yeah, it lasted for like a week. And the cold weather here only felt like cool fall days with the wind blowing. To me, it felt amazing during the day, but at night not going to lie, it was super hard to sleep bc there’s no such thing as keeping warm if you sleep in a hammock, haha. But yeah, it’s going to start to get hot again here. bleh.

Christmas day was AMAZING! Really only bc I got to talk to you all. It was soooo good to see all of your beautiful faces again and hear your voices. Thanks for letting Dylan and Jordan come over and be in the Skype call too. It was amazing to talk and catch up with them, esp. Jordan. It was soo good to see him to know that he is doing okay. 

Well, that’s about it for this week. We are still working strong with “He is the Gift” and will be sharing it with everyone well into next week. And next we are going to start working with the “My Family” pamphlets that we have. If you guys don’t have a My Family booklet, ask the mishies what they are and they can give you some. Everyone should have their own individual pamphlet, completely filled out.

There has been a renewed emphasis in family history work and really, every time I get to teach or hear about family history, this amazing strong spirit is present. Literally, one of the major things that I look forward to when I get home is to really start on my family history. Like dig deep, and I want to do it together with you mom. So I hope you’re working hard in gathering names and learning lots from Sis. Burdett cause I want you to teach me everything you’ve learned when I get back. 

Well, that’s it for this week. 

I love you all sooo much!! And I can’t wait to talk to you all again on Mother’s Day. 

Love, 

Hermana Plátano... hehe (that one was for you daddy)

Christmas package!!!

Christmas package again haha.

My beautiful presents!

So its kind of hard to see but those little specks that are in the sky are giant grasshoppers. We were walking one day and I look up and they were literally EVERYWHERE! You cant really tell in the pic, but they were flying around above us in groups that made them look like dark clouds. It was super gross and weird and I totally thought a plague had made its way to Izamal. And everyone else that was outside were just acting normal like it was an every day occurrence to have GIANT GRASSHOPPERS take over the sky. It was super creepy.

Week 32: MERRY CHRISTMAS ... (ya filthy animal) hehe

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the cold back home. Please enjoy it for me cause I miss the snow like crazy!! it doesn’t even feel like Christmas here... it’s a lot colder than the summer time, but to me, feels like a cool summer day back home.

Anyways, this week was suuupppperrrr busy filled with different activities with the ward and helping them prepare everything for the Christmas activity we had on Friday. The activity was really good but our ward has a huge problem with starting things on time. Like it’s really, really bad. It was supposed to start at 7 but they didn’t even say the opening prayer until 9:20 which was when we left to go back to the house. And they continued until like midnight I’m pretty sure. It was a real bummer bc I really wanted to go to a ward Christmas party, but didn’t get to this year. But next year when I’m back home, I’m definitely going to our home wards party!

Yesterday we had the Christmas party with the WHOLE mission. All of the missionaries were there so I got to see a lot of my friends from the MTC and different missionaries that are no longer in my zone that I got to know. It was really great and what we did was each zone sang a musical number and for our zone, I was chosen to direct the choir. Man, let me tell you. I have no idea how Janna Bullough does it.  Man, does she make it seem easy. HA!, no. Janna has a gift I’m telling you, to be able to direct a choir. Even though I was absolutely terrible at doing it, I totally felt like Janna Bullough and I totally felt super cool doing it. Haha

Afterwards, we had our lunch (which is the big meal here) and it was soooooo goooooddddd!!! The most Americanized lunch I’ve had since coming here. It was first a Cesar Salad and next we had turkey with mashed potatoes and veggies and gravy! It was amazing! And then for desert was like a chocolate cake/brownie with cookies and cream ice cream on top. Ah, it was to die for! And then afterwards, the ppl that didn’t have to travel far to go back to their areas, left to go sing and contact ppl in different parks in the city. We had to go early, which was a bummer, but before we did so, President Garcia gave a blessing to every single one of us that was waaayyy powerful. I felt the spirit sooo strongly. He said something that I would like to share with you that is really special to me. In his blessing, he promised that if we focused and desired to become more like Christ (we are focusing on doing this as a mission) and that if we strived every single day to do so, that my posterity would be blessed as faithful servants of Christ and will be able to withstand the power of Satan. And that they will be the generation blessed with the desire to be like Christ and will work to prepare for the coming of our savior. Boy is that not like the coolest blessing ever??!!

Anyways, that was my week I had all summarized. I’m going to close for now cause I’m running out of time and want to send pics. 

Love you allll soo much and I can’t wait to see all of your beautiful faces on Thursday!!!

Hermana Perryman

(Hannah wasn’t able to send pictures this week)

Week 31: FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Yeah, I can’t believe it either. That next week is Christmas already?? I’m dying that the time is just flying by. But that’s what happens when you’re having fun :)

Well, this email is going to be super short and filled with a bunch of boring information, sorry, but my time has been cut today because we’ve been stuck in Merida all day and have no time to write so that we have time to get back to Izamal. It’s such a pain sometimes living so far away, but hey, I’m not complaining, because I love it there :)

Well this week was filled with finding new investigators through ‘He is the Gift’. We contacted like every person that lives in Izamal, haha not really, but it sure felt like it. I’m loving being a missionary during this time, especially now that we have ‘He is the Gift’ to share with everyone. It really is a project that has been inspired to find those who are prepared to accept the restored gospel.

One really quick funny story that happened this week when we were trying to find someone’s house. So we decided to ask this older lady if she knew where this person, Cecilio lived. She said yes and we started to talk to her about ‘He is the Gift’. What happens almost all of the time with the older people is they start to talk about their lives. That’s what she started to do, was tell us her life story. It was really interesting, but what was really funny is somehow she started to talk about how the women in our generation are basically really lazy because we use washing machines instead of washing our clothes by hand. Maybe it was you had to have been there kind of moment, but we were trying so hard not to laugh!

So details about next week are:
Next Monday I will be in the mission party all day. So next Monday is NOT my pday.
Next TUESDAY IS my pday. So I will write you next Tuesday about this time in the day.
Next THURSDAY, Christmas day, is when I get to call you guys. I have 40 mins to Skype. On Christmas, we won’t be doing anything because here in Mexico, they celebrate Christmas on the 24th. So we eat dinner with the members that day and my comp calls home on the 24th. So all day, I’ll be free, I’m pretty sure.

Well, that’s about it. I’ll talk to you all next Tuesday, and on Thursday I get to see your beautiful faces!!!

Oh, sorry, no pics this week. But next week for sure!

Hermana Perryman

Week 30: AND THE VERDICT IS....

IM STAYING HERE IN IZAMAL FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

And I’m staying with Hna. Gutierrez. Yeah, we were super stoked last night when we got the call. Literally I am soooo happy to be here for Christmas!!!! I get to spend it with like the coolest ward ever. They really have become my family here away from home.

This week was a little slow, but we had some pretty cool moments. So on Tuesday we had a mtg with our zone to talk about the He is the Gift project that the church is doing right now with the video and how we plan on converting and taking over the whole world with the love of Christ. Yeah, it’s pretty awesome, not going to lie. And really, really powerful. This project has definitely been inspired and I am more grateful than ever to be a missionary during this time. What a blessing it is to share with others our knowledge of Christ and his miracles and life.

Well, then on Friday, we had another mtg, but with another zone and with the Assistants and with President. And we talked more about how we can share He is the Gift with everyone we talk to. And then the last hr and a half of the mtg, we spontaneously decided to put into practice what we talked about. So all of the missionaries (there was like 50 of us) went to this huge park/plaza and half of the missionaries started to sing Christmas hymns and the other half (I was part of this group) went around to the ppl who were in the park and talked to them and shared He is the Gift. It was a lot of fun, and I had a really cool experience with it.

So me and Hna. Siafinua (she is the Polynesian that was in my district in the MTC) decided to be companions for this activity and we decided to pick a random guy that was sitting alone in the park reading a magazine. So we sit down next to him and say "Hi! Good afternoon! How has your day been?" And he responds with "eh. so-so". So we ask him why just so-so. And from then on, he just poured out all of his problems that had been happening in his life. Which were a lot and really sad too. then he started to cry bc he said that he came to this park to sit down and try to think of what he can do to change his life around bc he feels stuck and he feels lost and is looking for a way.... Yeah. It was pretty amazing. Honestly I was sitting there listening, crying with him, and thinking "is this even real?" So after he was done talking, we shared with him who we were and what we have to offer him. We shared a couple of verses in the Book of Mormon, gave him one, and invited him to baptism, which he accepted. And he said that he will go to church on Sunday (this is in Merida so he isn’t in my area). It really was such an amazing experience for me and a testimony builder that if we make the decision to talk with everyone about the gospel, that Heavenly Father will put into our path the ppl who have been prepare and who are ready to accept the gospel and make changes in their lives.

So yeah. That’s about all that happened this week. 

We don’t have a mtg today which means we aren’t going to go to Merida this week, which means no mail till next week. So hopefully I get some mail then.

Oh, Friday, I got a small package mom that you sent me of Nutter Butters. Thank you sooo much!!! They were exactly what I needed at the time. Love you soo much!!

Well, pics are coming soon!

Love you all and I’ll write you next week!

Hermana Perryman

Your wonderful package mom! Thanks!

This is Hna. Mimi who is getting ready to leave for her mission in Costa Rica. She's the cutest thing ever and goes with us on visits all the time.

This was a little banana that a member gave us. It was seriously the smallest banana I've ever seen!

Yum! Nutter Butters!

We went to the pyramid today! Excuse my lazy eye...

We took a break and admired Izamal from above.

This is info on the pyramid that is the largest in Izamal. From left to right the languages are Spanish, Maya, and English. You can zoom in and read about the pyramid.

And one last one from this morning...

Week 29: ITS DECEMBER!!!

OMG GUYS. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT IT’S ALREADY DECEMBER????!!!!!!

I’m looking around for the time, but I can’t seem to find where it has gone.

Seriously, time is flying by sooo fast!!!

Ahhh. Anyways, transfers are next week, so you’ll know next Monday if I got transferred out if Izamal or not. I’m hoping to let you all know that I’m still here bc I’d love to spend Christmas here bc the families here in the ward are really amazing and do amazing things for the missionaries. And on top of all that they’ve become like my family away from home. But honestly, who knows what will happen next week.

This week was pretty good. Number wise, no. but... LUCY WAS FINALLY BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!! The baptism of Lucy was wonderful. A little crazy but wonderful. We were supposed to have it 4 on Saturday, but then she called that morning to tell us that she couldn’t at 4 but could at 2. So we had to change everything to have it at 2 and only a couple of members knew about it. So 2 o’clock came around and she still hadn’t showed up. Long story short, she didn’t show up till 3 and we had the service (the bishop baptized her) and then she had to leave right away for Merida. It was really quick, which was kinda disappointing bc I wanted something really special for her, but hey, at least she’s baptized. She was sooo beautiful and I was sooo happy to see her finally accept. I’ve seen her go through a lot of changes these past couple of months and she has been so much happier.

Oh, and Thanksgiving was. Interesting. Yeah, Thanksgiving here was... well like every other day. Honestly I forgot that it was Thanksgiving until after it passed. It was Saturday and a member was asking me about the holidays that we celebrate in the states and I was talking about Thanksgiving and it was then that I realized that Thanksgiving was Thursday. And I for our lunch/dinner the member that was supposed to feed us wasn’t home so we ended up making our own food with what we had in the house which was tortillas and cheese. So for Thanksgiving dinner I ate 2 cheese quesadillas... yeah...

Other than that, nothing much happened except I’m dying from the cold here in the nights. It’s so hard to sleep in a hammock when there is cold. I sleep with my jacket and hood, socks, and my blanket and I still die of cold in the night. And I get like next to no sleep bc of it. And in the morning we have to shower with cold water bc we don’t have any hot water. We can heat some up on the little burner we have, but that takes forever and there’s no such thing as extra time in a missionary’s schedule. So I may or may not die of hypothermia before summer comes...

And yeah, that’s about it. We are focusing on finding new people to teach here bc our teaching pool has become filled with investigators that just don’t want to progress so we are looking the chosen ones.

Well, that’s ‘bout it folks.

Love you tons and still haven’t gotten mail, but Friday we have a Zone Conference so maybe I’ll get something then.

Until next week!

Hermana Perryman

I totally saw Hermana Smith again at a Conference we had on Tuesday. it was sooo good to see her and catch up. I've missed her a lot

This is Hermana Pitcher. I met on FB before I left on the mission? She was at the Conference too. She's soo amazing and we have hopes of being companions one day.

Lucy's baptism!!! Ahh, She was soo beautiful...

We took some cool pics on the train rail.